Regular attendance is vital to the quality of a student’s education. Parents are the key in establishing and maintaining punctual, regular attendance habits. Please refer to the Student Handbook for information about attendance, excused and unexcused absences, approved field trips and the time frame for submitting absence information to the Attendance Office.

Attendance Notes

Attendance notes can be emailed to lgonzalez2@hisd.com. When your student is absent, while we appreciate a telephone call, we must receive a written note or email from a parent/guardian for the absence to be excused.   If your student went to a healthcare professional, court appearance, immigration appointment, college visit, or to obtain a driver's permit/license, valid documentation is required.  Documentation for all absences is required within three (3) days of returning to school. Only five (5) parent notes per semester will be accepted as excused.

College Visits

Juniors and Seniors are allowed two (2) college visits per school year by the State of Texas. For a college visit to be allowed, we must receive a letter from the college, on their letterhead, that includes the student’s name, date of the visit and be signed by a college official. Please have your student come to the attendance office to pick up a College day Form that will need to be signed by their teachers showing they are in good standing before they miss school for the visit. 

Attendance Requirements

To receive credit in any class, state law requires a student attend 90 percent of the class periods. That means a student cannot miss more than 10 percent of the semester days of a given course in order to receive credit. If a student misses more than 10 perent of their days, they must participate in the Credit Recovery program to make up time for the absences over 10 percent.

However, if a student misses over 25 percent of their class days, the student is ineligible to participate in the Credit Recovery Program. Failure to participate in the Credit Recovery Program or being ineligible to do so will result in a loss of credit/NG (No Grade) in that class.

Students are responsible for keeping track of their own attendance throughout the semester and making sure that they don't end up missing over 10 percent of their total class days by the end of the semester. Every attendance committee meeting, conservatory directors will be given a list of their students' attendance to aid in counseling them about their attendance.